Dinner Tonight: Provencal Sauteed Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic

Shallots, butter, wine, rosemary, and garlic: you can hardly get more French than that. Sometimes a good dinner is not about expanding your palate with new cuisines and exotic ingredients; sometimes the ticket is what's familiar and guaranteed to be delicious.

I knew I was in good hands with Pierre Franey when I found this recipe in his book Cooking in France, companion to his PBS television series. A Frenchman with a deep love for his home cuisine, his recipes relied on good technique and classic flavors.

What's important with this recipe is cooking the chicken skin-side down for at least ten minutes, which crisps up the skin into a mouthwatering golden brown. The smooth, rich sauce—a buttery elixir of chicken juices, mellow garlic, fragrant rosemary, and white wine—needs that crisp counterpoint. I was amazed how this recipe transformed the lowly chicken breast into great cuisine.

Procedures

1

Season chicken pieces on both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in heavy skillet large enough to hold pieces comfortably until butter foam has subsided. Add chicken pieces skin-side down and cook undisturbed until skin is crisp and golden brown, about 10 minutes.

2

Turn chicken pieces over and add garlic and rosemary to skillet. Continue to cook for 10 more minutes.

3

Remove chicken to rest and carefully remove all but a few tablespoons of fat from skillet. Add shallots and cook for 30 seconds, then add wine and chicken broth. Scrape up pan juices from surface and reduce sauce by half.

4

Return chicken pieces to pan skin-side up and cook, covered, until chicken is cooked through. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to skillet to finish sauce. Serve chicken immediately with sauce draped around it.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Chicago, one of Blake's earliest food memories was a Chicago-style hot dog with all the toppings. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

As a co-founder of The Paupered Chef And a Serious Eats Contributor since the beginning, Blake has been writing about food regularly since 2006. He currently contributes weekly to Dinner Tonight and writes the Chicago-based column Sausage City. He studied professional cookery at Kendall College in Chicago, and is creative director of Jamco Creative, an outfit in Chicago that specializes in social media marketing.

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